


A whole new world

by TerresDeBrume



Series: Immortal Instruments Warm Ups [4]
Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alicante (Shadowhunter Chronicles), Alternate Universe - Siblings, Black Character(s), Black Family, Clary and Jace are siblings, Fluff, Gen, Idris (Shadowhunter Chronicles), Middle Eastern!Lightwoods, No Incest, Rivers, Sibling Bonding, Siblings, racebend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-06-02 07:00:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6556471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerresDeBrume/pseuds/TerresDeBrume
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Clary is invited to spend an afternoon near a river in Idris.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A whole new world

**Author's Note:**

> This fits into the larger ‘verse of The Immortal Cup, my City of Bones rewrite, hopefully coming soon :P

Clary yelps when someone splashes water against her back—after several minutes of sunbathing it feels like being hit by ice cubes, and even Izzy’s mischievous grin over her broken nose isn’t enough to stop Clary from glaring at her:

 

“I hate you,” she hisses with a glare as she peals her sundress away from her breasts, “Do you know how cold that is?”

“It’s fifty-three degrees Clary, it’s not that cold.”

 

 

Clary wants to complain again and ask why she’s even dating Izzy, but then her mouth curls into the half smile that knocked the breath out of Clary’s lungs from the very first day, and Clary gives up. Izzy’s long black hair clings to her, thick and full of water—Clary can even smell the green scent of it from where she’s sitting. The sun, still bright and warm for an early September afternoon, traces steaks of gold over the bronze of Izzy’s shoulders, and her dark blue eyes look almost black in the back light. She’s soaking wet and covered in scars and oh-so-much-more muscular than any of the girls Clary used to admire…but she has a smile to light the sun with and beautiful lips and the custom-made artificial leg to demonstrate just how smart she is so, really, how’s Clary meant to resist?

 

 

“It’s colder than a swimming pool,” she says anyway, and she’s rewarded with a fond eye roll and a swift kiss on the lips:

“You’re such a city rat.”

“Hey!” Clary protests, it’s not my fault we’re from different worlds!”

 

 

Just today, Clary has had to adjust to:

  1. Portal traveling.
  2. Knowing that she is now in a place where she can reach the literal edge of the world, like in Atlantis _: The Lost empire_ except without the lava.  
2.a. Knowing that her mother once jumped off that very edge _while pregnant_.
  3. Crossing a city that looks like a Mucha painting decided to take over the entire landscape (and had the illegitimate, magical child of the Shanghai Maglev train)
  4. Seeing more plants and insects-inspired clothing than she’s ever seen in her entire _life_.
  5. Stepping through a gate and leaving said Mucha-town in profit of something that looks like the medieval architectures of all five continents decided to have an impromptu World’s Fair a couple of centuries early.
  6. Apparently having missed seven years worth of exams.
  7. Learning that, outside of the AsLine (the aforementioned magical train), people around Alicante travel by foot, boats or _horse._  
7.a. _Riding a horse_ (with Jace, but still)



And, of course, the part where people in Idris apparently find it normal to swim in rivers.

 

“You’re making it into a bigger deal than it really is,” Izzy says after a bit. “Look at Jace, he’s enjoying himself.”

 

Izzy’s shoulder is cold against Clary’s when she nudges her, but Clary follows her gaze and she is, indeed, forced to agree.

Jace dragged Alec further up the stream to what looks like a crumbling boulder streaked with translucent yellow stone, and the two of them have been foraging between the rocks for a good twenty minutes now, their hands and forearms streaked with mud. Both of them are shining with sweat, darker patches of skin where the sun hits them—Jace’s umber skin has turned even blacker around his shoulders and between his shoulder blades, and the light makes the copper of his un-dyed roots look almost as bright as Clary’s puffs. Both of the boys look intensely focused on whatever it is they’re doing, and Clary can’t even find it in herself to make a gentle dig at them.

Instead, she turns back to her girlfriend and tries to sound arch when she says:

 

“Maybe I have better things to do than dig holes between stones.”

 

Izzy barely swallows a bout of laughter before she shakes her head and says:

 

“I keep forgetting you don’t know about those things. They’re fishing for water bees.”

“Water bees?”

“They’re creatures you only find in Idris—they’re a pain to find, but if you can get some to swarm in your aquarium you can treat practically any kind of burn for the rest of your life. Alec has been wanting some for the infirmary for ages.”

“Are you pulling my leg?”

“The only leg I pull is mine, and only when I go to bed.”

 

 

Izzy uses the wooden knee of her prosthetic leg—on the left side—to nudge Clary’s thigh–Clary snorts and gently kicks her away. Izzy pretends to be offended at the gesture and tries to tickle Clary through her shirt but Clary manages to dodge and, by some miracle of luck, manages to end up on top of Izzy and tickle her under the arms.

Izzy’s resulting shriek of laughter is almost enough to make Clary stop, but she keeps going once she realizes Izzy isn’t actually defending herself that much. Clary has her girlfriend doubled over in laughter in less than a minute, and for a while the only thing Clary can see is Izzy’s laughing face framed by the copper mess of Clary’s corkscrew curls, until Izzy turns her head to th sides and yells:

 

“Brother, save meeeeeeeee!”

 

There’s the sound of bare feet running on the sandy shore, the press of arms around Clary waist, and then she’s flying through the air and crashing in the water, her butt bouncing on the riverbed before she pushes herself upright, coughing and spluttering with abrupt cold. She flings her hair out of her face with a wet splash and glares at Alec in utter disbelief:

 

“WHY?”

“I’m defending my sister,” Alec says with a shrugs and a smirk, “Nothing personal.”

 

 

Clary, her hands trying to wring the worst of the water out of her dress, doesn’t notice Jace walking up behind Alec until he’s already pushed his parabatai face first in the water, where Alec crashes with a panicked flail and an undignified yelp.

 

“I’m defending my sister,” Jace says when Alec straightens up, hair falling into his face like a thick curtain of curly ink, “Nothing personal.”

 

Clary tries—but probably fails—to hide her pleased grin at that, something happy fluttering in her stomach as she drinks in the knowledge that Jace is going to be a constant in her life now—that he’ll have her back for as long as the two of them live without question. It’s almost better than dating.

 

 _Also,_ she thinks when Jace raises his hand for a high-five, _it’s fun to teach him normal New York stuff._


End file.
